Paramashiva, aka: Paramaśiva, Parama-shiva; 3 Definition(s)

Introduction

Paramashiva means something in Hinduism, Sanskrit. If you want to know the exact meaning, history, etymology or English translation of this term then check out the descriptions on this page. Add your comment or reference to a book if you want to contribute to this summary article.

The Sanskrit term Paramaśiva can be transliterated into English as Paramasiva or Paramashiva, using the IAST transliteration scheme (?).

In Hinduism

Shaivism (Shaiva philosophy)

Paramasiva = Purnahanta = The Perfect I-Consciousness. He is all sounds, all letters, all words, all sentences, all Tattvas, and all existence. There is nothing that He is not. He has five powers: Sarva Kartritvam, Sarva Jnatvam, Purnatvam, Nityatvam, and Vyapaktvam (power of performing any and all acts, all knowledge, all fullness, eternality, and all-pervasiveness). These powers become limited in the individual soul in the following Tattvas: KalA, Vidya, RAga, KAla, and Niyati.

Paramaśiva (परमशिव).—Parama Śiva is the inert and formless state of absolute transcendence beyond all categories in which śiva, divine agency, śakti, its instrumentaiity (energy or power), and bindu, its poteney (pure materiality in a nuclear state), are in perfect union. This undifferentiated state of śiva, śakti and bindu in and as Parama Śiva is disturbed when “being discerns itself”, so to speak, effecting a tension in the equilibrium of bindu. As a result, divine agency and instrumentality are differentiated.

Source: McGill: The architectural theory of the Mānasāra (shaivism)context information

Shaiva (शैव, śaiva) or Shaivism (śaivism) represents a tradition of Hinduism worshiping Shiva as the supreme being. Closely related to Shaktism, Shaiva literature includes a range of scriptures, including Tantras, while the root of this tradition may be traced back to the ancient Vedas.

Discover the meaning of paramashiva or paramasiva in the context of Shaivism from relevant books on Exotic India

General definition (in Hinduism)

Paramasiva is not an eternal thing that has form and substance. Nor is it a concept, as it lies beyond the reach of conceptual understanding. Paramaśiva is nothing but pure “Awareness-Light” (prakasa), “stir of blissfulness” (spanda). It is dependent upon nothing and all is dependent upon it. It is eternally fresh and immediate (nitya) and absolutely without limitation/free (svatantrya). It is Ultimate Potency (parasakti). It has no set pattern of manifestation such as the seed in relation to the tree, nor compulsion to manifest itself as material existence. Yet still, here we are, and this “is”. It is beyond subject-object distinctions and yet playfully hosts all such distinctions (lila) without itself getting bound.

Paramasiva is who we all are at essence. Not only is it our most essential reality of being, it is the formless base giving rise to, and hosting our sense of individuality and the variegation of the entire manifest world. It unconditionally hosts our ignorant choices (through which we exercise our limited version of Paramasiva’s Pure Freedom) that cause us suffering and bondage to the wheel of karma and the cycle of repeated birth – death – and rebirth.

Yet Paramasiva is not a “god”. It is not a separate being. Paramasiva is far from the sense of separateness and purpose that a god (or any individual being) needs to exist. It has no sacred books, nor commandments to give, nor covenants with followers. It doesn’t need nor require worship or supplication. There is nothing one can do to gain its favor or to “fall from its grace”. There is no heaven where it lives, nor a force of evil it battles. It did not “create” us or anything else for that matter.

Paramapuruṣa (परमपुरुष) or Paramapuruṣasaṃhitā is the name of a Vaiṣṇava Āgama scripture, class...

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